Top digital transformation challenges? Cybercrime and espionage

In Frost & Sullivan’s recent survey covering end-user perspectives on navigating digital transformation, 54 per cent of IT professionals cited cybercrime and espionage as their top challenges, followed by systems integration.

Other noteworthy findings include significant IT investment in productivity, improving digital presence, as well as communications/collaboration tool integration with other business software (Microsoft Office, Google-G-suite, CRM, ERP) and vertical applications.

“The top three IT solutions in use today include data centres, cybersecurity and customer experience management, but cybersecurity, big data and analytics, and data centre are found to be the most impactful technologies for revenues and cost reduction efforts,” said Alpa Shah, Global VP, Digital Transformation at Frost & Sullivan.

When asked about critical investments for digital transformation success over the next five years, European organisations cited providing product(s) as a service (XaaS) as their top choice.

About 59 per cent of respondents in Europe plan to increase their IT budgets, with an average rise of 19 per cent. Investments in Europe are below the global average of approximately 26 per cent. This could indicate that European respondents are less confident in their own revenue growth and investment opportunities.

“On the flip side, the optimism around being an early adopter and a growth rate of 19 per cent in IT investments bodes well for IT solutions providers,” noted Shah. “Companies that can effectively help end-user industries implement a digital transformation strategy will succeed.”